posted at 6:01 pm on March 21, 2014 by Guy Benson

I’ve gone out of my way to avoid writing about the missing airplane, even though many Americans evidently find the mystery’s allure to be irresistible. Let’s face it: CNN isn’t going wall-to-wall with the story because of its intrinsic news value. I’ll freely admit that there’s something about aviation disasters in general that is morbidly fascinating, so a bizarre case involving a massive jet with hundreds of souls aboard simply vanishing is inevitably going to attract lots of eyeballs. And yes, some of the morsels of evidence that have emerged only add to the intrigue That being said, the media’s endless speculation about this case — in the absence of much tangible news — strikes me as profoundly unseemly. Some of the coverage has descended into self-parody. In a much-derided segment, CNN anchor Don Lemon asked if there was any merit to a theory that the plane was swallowed up by a black hole. (Bravo to the guest who deadpanned that even a small black hole would have sucked in “our entire universe, so we know it’s not that”). CNN’s sister network, HLN, took the theater of the absurd a step further, hauling a psychic on air to offer the following “insights:”

It’s mind-numbing stuff to sit through, so here are the relevant bits from the transcript:

“Naturally, I don’t have hard, concrete evidence. I think any psychic who has hard, concrete evidence can’t do their job correctly…They’ll just work off what they know. I tend to work off what I don’t know….I kept feeling as though yes, there are some people who have passed away…I do believe that it actually crashed, and I see a lot of trees. I think there is a larger organization behind this that is leading us off track with this debris.”

She sees trees. And dead people. But hey, she’s only working off what she admittedly “doesn’t know.” This is embarrassing. I realize that television bookers and producers are under immense pressure to fill hours upon hours of air time to feed the public’s appetite for this story. But if you’re entertaining crackpot theories and interviewing psychics on air, it may be time to re-evaluate what you’re doing. The worst part of this press circus is the hellacious impact it must be having on the missing passengers’ loved ones. They’re being bombarded with stupid conjecture and misinformation, while desperately seeking any kernel of hope or truth. The “moar theories!” coverage model might be great for ratings and clicks, but it must be borderline torturous for the people with a real stake in all of this. The Oniondistills things rather well in this piece of satire:

Saying they have endured heart-wrenching uncertainty and deserved definitive answers, the families of passengers aboard missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370 expressed hope Wednesday that the media will eventually receive some kind of closure regarding the plane’s mysterious disappearance. “This has been an extremely difficult time for the reporters and anchors covering this event; they have put their lives on hold over the past 10 days and we know they won’t be able to move forward until they learn the fate of this airliner,” said Sarah Wan, speaking on behalf of the relatives and loved ones of the 239 missing individuals, who remain hopeful that some sort of resolution will be reached for the sake of the various news networks and websites. “The conflicting reports and numerous remaining unanswered questions have been devastating for them. It’s not surprising that they are obsessing around the clock, wondering what could have possibly occurred on board that flight. I don’t know how they are able to stay so resilient, grasping at every new statement or bit of information that trickles out. Our thoughts and prayers go out to them.” Wan said there was still a chance the plane may have been hijacked and the passengers aboard had been taken hostage, but she didn’t want to unfairly get the media’s hopes up.

WILLIAMS: Naturally I don’t actually have hard, concrete evidence. Any psychic who has hard, concrete evidence can’t do their job correctly because they get misinformed. They get interpreted. They’ll just work on what they know. So I tend to work off what I don’t know.

Unbelievable, you are ridiculing psychics even though there are weekly threads about early Christians having conversations with dead Moses and God and other figures – why can we not just respect everyone’s beliefs as long as they don’t do any harm to us?

Unbelievable, you are ridiculing psychics even though there are weekly threads about early Christians having conversations with dead Moses and God and other figures – why can we not just respect everyone’s beliefs as long as they don’t do any harm to us?

Federati on March 21, 2014 at 6:13 PM

When they are being pushed as legitimate news sources they are doing harm. It would be no different than someone coming on the TV and saying that Jesus told them where the plane was. Its nuts to push it as news which you should know.

Of course it allowed you to get off a cheap shot at Christianity so I guess that is all that matters.

In a much-derided segment, CNN anchor Don Lemon asked if there was any merit to a theory that the plane was swallowed up by a black hole. (Bravo to the guest who deadpanned that even a small black hole would have sucked in “our entire universe, so we know it’s not that”).

What if it was only a micro-black hole? The kind of vortex that forms over my company’s weekly update meetings and sucks both time and all the willingness to live out of the participants. And it was on a Friday when these meetings happen!

Say some freighter was having their weekly update meeting at the very moment the 777 flew directly overhead. Huh! Making you think about it, right? I think there is something to this theory. ;0

When they are being pushed as legitimate news sources they are doing harm. It would be no different than someone coming on the TV and saying that Jesus told them where the plane was. Its nuts to push it as news which you should know.

Of course it allowed you to get off a cheap shot at Christianity so I guess that is all that matters.

Thank you. I actually liked having these in the Green Room, because the link would stay at the top of the page until Monday morning at least. But we’re phasing out the Green Room, since most of the things we posted in it could just as easily be front-page posts anyway, including the Sunday Reflections. We’ve expanded the headlines again instead, which I think gives those links a little more room to breathe.

“When the plane was still missing on Sunday (the day after it disappeared), our engineers looked at the network data and realised that the plane had been sending signals,” Inmarsat Senior Vice President Chris McLaughlin told IBTimes UK.

“We couldn’t say what direction it had gone in, but the plane wasn’t standing still because the signals were getting longer, i.e. further in distance from our satellite.”

Lighten up people. I think we wouldn’t be so nutty about this if the victims were Americans. Knowing they are mostly Chinese and even if they do speak English China probably doesn’t let them see it.

crankyoldlady on March 21, 2014 at 6:38 PM

crankyoldlady- if it was a United flight filled with Americans or a Lufthansa flight filled with Europeans the media would be going hyperbolic over the lack of ability in finding that plane. It’s a common story to hear of a Malaysian ferry going down with fatalities. It would be a paragraph in American media. At most.

IMO, most of the interest here in the West has been to what happened to the plane with minimal attachement to it’s disappearance with the 230 souls onboard.

Unbelievable, you are ridiculing psychics even though there are weekly threads about early Christians having conversations with dead Moses and God and other figures – why can we not just respect everyone’s beliefs as long as they don’t do any harm to us?

Suppose, now bear with me here…just suppose…it landed on Guam and as Congressman Johnson warned us. The weight was too much and it finally capsized. Are there studies on how to tell if Guam is right side up?..Stranger things have happened..Just say’in

Satellite pings (latency) are based on transmissions at the speed of light, and the simple time involved to reach the target and return.

faraway on March 21, 2014 at 6:48 PM

This isn’t correct. It also depends on the delay caused while the aircraft system processes the signal and generates a return signal. I’m not convinced that this processing time is always constant. It probably wasn’t designed to be constant. I’m also not convinced that the satellite and recording equipment is capable to accurately measuring the total response time with enough precision.

To me, this means it’s not possible for the plane to be in the upper half of the Northern, or the lower half of the Southern arcs.

faraway on March 21, 2014 at 6:48 PM

Why not? If you believe their claim that the time measurement was constant, then you only know that the aircraft would be a certain distance from the satellite. Assuming the aircraft didn’t drill deep underground or shoot off into space, then you can’t rule out any part of the arcs.

True if this was mechanical failure of a Boeing 777. Not so much with the 777’s track record compared to the facts we know. It has been under-reported but you do realize that the pilots were Muslim, right?

It has been under-reported but you do realize that the pilots were Muslim, right?

Happy Nomad on March 21, 2014 at 7:27 PM

Right now I don’t give a flamin’ fat rat’s rear end what they were. They could pray to orange robe wearing skittlecrapppin’ unicorns for all I care about that.

This could have been a one in a million bad maintenance crap shoot screw up. Or a problem with the plane that terrorists have discovered and exploited. In either case I am sorry for the victims but I want the cause known before it happens to another planeload of people. Any people.

I’m with you. I deplore the worthless speculation that passes for news on all of the networks. If there are no facts to report then the only responsible thing for them to do is report that there are no facts. Real people are tormented by lack of knowledge about their loved ones. We do not need to add to the stock of human misery with idle speculation.

I respect Christianity greatly, but when someone calls a psychic a “crackpot” but stay silent when someone says they spoke with Moses or saw a man turn water into wine, it seems a little hypocritical, close-minded, condescending and generally not cool.

I respect Christianity greatly, but when someone calls a psychic a “crackpot” but stay silent when someone says they spoke with Moses or saw a man turn water into wine, it seems a little hypocritical, close-minded, condescending and generally not cool.

Satellite pings (latency) are based on transmissions at the speed of light, and the simple time involved to reach the target and return.

faraway on March 21, 2014 at 6:48 PM

This isn’t correct. It also depends on the delay caused while the aircraft system processes the signal and generates a return signal. I’m not convinced that this processing time is always constant. It probably wasn’t designed to be constant. I’m also not convinced that the satellite and recording equipment is capable to accurately measuring the total response time with enough precision.

blink on March 21, 2014 at 7:20 PM

The airplane system latency would likely have been constant. So, the lengthening overall latency would mean the airplane was heading away from the satellite during each ping.

Federati, my “crackpot” reference was to the imbecilic black holes theory. (I don’t believe in psychics either, but that reference was not to her).

And to others, this was the only embeddable video I could find (from the Daily Caller). Mediaite doesn’t allow embedding anymore. I, too, hate auto play — but I figured some video was better than none in this case.

Why are you making this claim? A 0.01 second variation would vary the distance measurement by 1,860 miles, right? Are you confident that the system aboard the 777 is designed to be that constant despite the fact that the system isn’t used for providing the satellite with a range?

the lengthening overall latency would mean the airplane was heading away from the satellite during each ping.

Therefore, the arcs are too big. They should be only half as big.

First, what is Inmarsat’s official position? That the time delay increased over the 7 hours or remained constant?

Second, I don’t understand what you’re saying here. Can you explain? The arcs represent a constant distance from the satellite and assume that the aircraft was proceeding along a near constant heading. If the delay time was increasing, then the arcs would be more open, right?

I kept feeling as though yes, there are some people who have passed away…I do believe that it actually crashed, and I see a lot of trees. I think there is a larger organization behind this that is leading us off track with this debris.”

Stupid psychic. She saw LOST and can’t tell the difference between a good TV saga and reality.

First, not all psychics are frauds, but you can pretty much guarantee those ‘psychics’ seeking attention are certainly frauds. There are REAL psychics out there, but you won’t get them on a show, they don’t roll that way.

Second, I don’t think the plane crashed, so making generalizations about trees is stupid, but the dead people generalization is a pretty safe one obviously. If obama had the plane stored on the military base in the middle of the indian ocean, those people are dead and disposed of. If the islamist cretins have it, the people are long dead. If the plane hit 46,000 feet for 10 minutes, the people are dead, and if it crashed they are obviously dead.

I’m sick of ALL the networks pimping this story and stringing everyone along. I will pay attention when there is an answer, and I’ll probably read that online rather than watch it on TV.

My opinion though, is that obama has a great deal to do with this disappearance. One way or another, that islamist piece of crap is behind it.